Disposable surgical gowns are widely used by members of an operating team as a protective measure during the performance of surgery. The surgical gowns are made to cover the front and back torso and the arms of the surgical team member. The surgical gowns protect the members of the surgical team from coming into contact with bodily fluids during surgical procedures. To perform adequately, the surgical gown must prohibit the transfer of liquid, such as blood, plasma, serums and other liquids, thereby protecting the surgical team. Additionally, the surgical gowns are made sterile and are intended to prevent the possibility of infection being transmitted from the surgical team to the patient.
Disposable surgical drapes are also used during surgical procedures. Disposable surgical drapes provide protection to the patient by creating a sterile environment about the surgical site and maintaining an effective barrier that minimizes the passage of microorganisms between non-sterile and sterile areas. As with surgical gowns, the drape material should be resistant to blood and other bodily fluids to prohibit such fluids from contaminating the sterile field.
To adequately protect the surgical team, gown and drape manufacturers provide disposable surgical gowns and drapes that provide varying levels of protection against penetration of body fluids and infectious materials. By way of example, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (“AAMI”) has established standards for barrier performance and has published guidelines for barrier classification of surgical gowns, surgical drapes and other protective surgical apparel. The ultimate goal of the established standards is to give doctors, nurses and staff the ability to make informed decisions regarding the protective barrier products that they wear. Gown and drape manufacturers now provide health care professionals with the ability to choose a protective barrier product that is designed for a particular procedure or protocol. For example, the current AAMI classification ranges from level 1 for the lowest barrier protection against penetration of bodily fluids to higher barrier protection levels including level 4 that currently provides the highest barrier protection against penetration of bodily fluids and infectious materials.
Gown and drape manufacturers currently provide surgical gowns and drapes having barrier protection commensurate with the AAMI protection levels. The surgical gowns and drapes are usually identified as having a specific AAMI barrier protection level on the outer packaging of the gown or drape. Thus, a surgical team member must read the information printed on the outer packaging to find the gown or drape with the desired protection level. Providing a way of identifying the barrier protection level without inspecting the wording on the packaging—which may be small and difficult to read—makes identification easier, less time-consuming, and generally less likely to be subject to errors of misidentifications.
Thus, it is desirable to provide disposable surgical gowns, disposable surgical drapes and other protective apparel that are more easily identified as having specific and/or desired barrier protection levels. It is also desirable to provide a surgical kit having a gown, drape, and/or other related items that are identified as having specific and/or desired barrier protection levels using a similar identification system for one or more components of the kit.